Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General Is it too soon to be talking 2020?

Word.

This morning I keep thinking of the movie The Music Man, as an example of populism's mass delusion. Very much like Trump's base. But I guess religious leaders have always done this:

"Believe in this fantasy divine message that I tell you, and all of your problems will be solved. Don't believe anybody else, because they are all liars."

And even: "They are all in a massive conspiracy to do unspeakable evil and all worship Satan. They should all be killed."

Sound familiar?

So around 57% of all white people are bigoted and racist nationalist if I got your meaning right. Perhaps those who are conservatives are also bigoted, racist, nationalist because they aren't liberal or have a differing political philosophy.

Then what about the average of 9% of blacks, of the 33% of Hispanics and the 40% of Asians who also voted Republican on average over the last 5 election cycles? Are they also bigoted, racist, nationalists?

Or could it be that people have differing views on politics, different ideologies and philosophies? What about self interest voting, voting for folks who you think will help you in the issues that are most important to you?

I'm more or less a swing voter, voting for candidates from both parties and I'm white. Since I have voted for 3 Republican presidents out of the last 5, does that make me a bigoted, racist nationalist?

Perhaps I must be, I voted for Republicans, I'm white and I'm from Georgia. No doubt about it.

There are a lot of reasons to vote Republican.

White supremacy is one of them. Christian evangelism is another.

Trump admitted early on that he was a nationalist, and has proven many times over that he is a racist and a bigot.

His many followers and voters are authoritarians by nature, touting their freedoms while taking them from others. Racists, nationalists, hyper Christians, neo Nazis, and the republican roach herders who keep them in line and get them out of the woodwork on election day.

Also if you're rich they'll keep your taxes lower by exploiting workers.

And if your primary concern is the military, they will never cut a cent from its bloated and ridiculous budget.

We've got trouble, folks, right here in River City!

Why wouldn't it be? I've been military almost all my life. 21 years active duty, another 26 as a department of the army civilian. It's not the military that's responsible for its bloated budget as you put it. Try congress. They use the military as a civilian jobs creator and maintainer. You could easily cut 100 billion from the military budget if congress stopped that. It wouldn't hurt national defense or security one bit. But congress has always made the military buy stuff that it didn't need nor want, even when the JCS told congress so.

But those congress critters are more worried about maintaining and creating civilian jobs back home in their district and state than about military preparedness or even national security in general. This way those congress critters can go back home to their district and state and tell their constituents they provided so many jobs and kept so many jobs. Please vote for me.

I seen all of this first hand. Stuff sitting in warehouses for 10 or more years, all brand new before being auctioned off by DRMO at a fraction of the original cost. I suppose the bottom line is if congress didn't make the military buy all this stuff that it didn't need nor want, civilian jobs would be lost back in those congress critters districts and states. Better to bring home the pork than cut the military budgets by not making the defense department buy things that aren't going to be used and lose civilian jobs back home. Then the congress critters would be blamed and perhaps not reelected. This goes for both parties.

I agree... but there is the matter of de-gree. And willingness/ability to consider and discuss things that are uncomfortable. Like we are doing.

Scale and relativity are all important in a world where nothing is black and white.

I was in the construction industry all my life. I don't give a fig about the industry now that I'm retired.

Well...duh. Those slave-owning, Jim Crow-loving Southern racist and bigoted Dixiecrats were certainly no progressives.

Yes, it's certainly differing political philosophies.

You are totally wrong about that. Lynching is what bigots did after slavery ended, when they no longer could own slaves. What they used to do was to hunt down their "missing property", punish it in some non-crippling way, and put it back to work. It was pretty much about money, and slaves were worth a LOT of money. It would be insane to kill one. When you own their life-long labor and their offspring, it would be a huge waste of money.